12 months' jail for woman who received & disbursed stolen money
By Claire Huang
POSTED: 06 Jun 2013 7:50 PM
SINGAPORE: A former merchandiser was on Thursday sentenced to 12 months' jail for receiving and disbursing stolen money.
Tan Chew Ngor, 47, had befriended someone online with the moniker "George Smith" in August 2012.
They chatted regularly and Tan told "George Smith" she was in the midst of divorce proceedings.
"George Smith" offered to send her money for the legal fees.
On 30 August 2012, Tan discovered that close to S$143,500 had been credited to her bank account.
"George Smith" instructed her to distribute the money to various individuals, after keeping S$6,000 for her legal fees.
Court documents stated that the money was from an Iranian-Canadian's account with ABN AMRO.
An unknown person had sent an email in the name of the victim to his brother, who was authorised to confirm the payment.
Unknowingly, the victim's brother allowed the payment and money was transferred to Tan's account in Singapore.
Of the five charges Tan faced, prosecution proceeded on two.
The rest were taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.
- CNA/xq
